Ahir, Guardian of Malor, Chapter 11: Ahir Arrested Audio

Tor’jahd swooped down and landed on Milton’s arm as he watched Ahir jog toward him. Tor’jahd glared at Ahir. “What are you doing back so fast, boy? Have you already slain those of my kin who came to your city?”

Ahir looked down at the sidewalk. “No, the portal closed before we could get to it.” Ahir looked up and met Milton’s gaze. “We need to work together so we can make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

Milton grunted. “If the Aureus’Aevum want to leave on their own, I don’t see why that is a problem. As far as I am concerned, this means that we don’t have to see each other ever again.”

Ahir shook his head. “The Aureus’Aevum took four people back with them.”

Milton stared at Ahir. He remained silent for several moments before replying, “You let people be taken?”

Ahir shook his head. “This isn’t just on me, Milton. Tor’jahd is the one that knew when that portal was going to open, and he didn’t tell anyone. It’s his fault we didn’t get there in time.”

Milton opened his mouth to answer, but Trixie interrupted. “That’s not what’s important right now! We need figure out a way to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again! Milton, Ahir has an idea for how we can make that happen. Are you at least willing to listen to what it is?”

Milton looked at Trixie, and then at Ahir. He crossed his arms, turned his back to Ahir, and took a step away. “I’m listening.”

Ahir smiled at Trixie and mouthed the words ‘Thank you.’ “I think you’ll like this idea, Milton, because it means you won’t have to see me anymore, or even talk to me.”

Milton turned and looked at Ahir. “I’m liking this idea so far, but I don’t see how that’s going to prevent other people from being taken.”

“Tor’jahd knows when and where portals are going to open, unlike Bar’bou, who only knows where they are after they have opened. Trixie is going to give you her phone number, and if two portals open again, we’ll let you go after the first one alone. You call Trixie and let us know when and where the second one is going to open, and we’ll go take care of that one.”

Milton looked at Trixie and then back at Ahir. “If I do that, you promise you won’t show up at the first open portal?”

Ahir nodded his head. “I won’t show up at any portals that you don’t choose to tell us about. I don’t like the idea of splitting our power, especially while you’re injured, but it gives us the best opportunity to keep the most people safe. What do you think?”

Milton frowned. “I don’t know. I like the idea of not having you show up and mess up my fights anymore, but at the same time if I tell you about where to find the Aureus’Aevum that means that you’ll kill more of them.” Milton looked over at Tor’jahd, who had perched on a nearby trash can. Tor’jahd shook his head and Milton bit his bottom lip. “But if things are allowed to continue like this then more people might get hurt. We can give this plan of yours a try, Ahir.”

Ahir smiled. “Good, I think we’re going to be able to protect a lot of people this way, Milton.”
Milton sighed. “Yeah yeah, just give me Trixie’s phone number so I can leave. I have somewhere I need to be.”

🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺

Milton limped into a room and smiled at the nurse placing medical supplies into the cupboard over the sink. He limped over to the examination table and took a seat. “Hello, Ms. Brooks, I hope I’m not too late for my appointment.”

Ms. Brooks smiled back at Milton. “Not at all, Milton, you are actually a couple of minutes early, but it’s okay. My last appointment got done early. Have you been staying off of your leg like I told you to?”

Milton frowned. “I’ve been trying to, but I think I’ve been on it a little more than I should have been.”

Ms. Brooks frowned back at Milton. “It’s not going to heal if you don’t rest it, Milton. Let me take a look at it.” Milton began to roll up the leg of his jeans, exposing his bandage wrapped leg. The nurse walked over and unwrapped the bandage and examined Milton’s leg. She shook her head and sighed. “Milton, what have you been doing? It looks like you have been trying to pass a military fitness test, not resting! If you don’t give your leg time to heal, it’s only going to get worse! You might keep that limp for the rest of your life! Promise me that you will stay off of it for the next couple of days. I’ll write your teacher a note giving you an excuse not to go to class if you promise me you’ll stay off of that leg.”

Milton looked away. “I’ll try to stay off of it.”

Ms. Brooks shook her head and grabbed a bottle of ointment out of the cupboard and and squirted some into her hands. She began to rub the ointment onto Milton’s leg and wrapped a new bandage around it. “You are a smart guy, Milton. Act like it, and stay off of your leg for a couple of days.” She pulled her rubber gloves off and grabbed a notepad and scribbled a quick note. She tore it off of the notepad and handed it to Milton.

Milton stood up and winced once he put weight back onto his leg. He limped up to Ms. Brooks and took the note from her. “Thanks Ms. Brooks. I’ll go and show this to my teachers and get my leg up.”

Milton walked out of the clinic and Tor’jahd swooped down and landed on Milton’s shoulder. “What did the nurse say? Is your leg getting better?”

Milton shook his head. “No, it’s getting worse. She says if I don’t take time to rest up I might have this limp for the rest of my life. Maybe I should give the Powaga Joursi to someone else for a while, just while I recover. If Ahir had it, maybe he would stop killing your people.”

Tor’jahd turned his head and fixed one of his golden eyes on Milton. “You wish to pass on the Powaga Joursi to another, and to Ahir of all people? Do you think that he would be willing to give up the power the bow offers when you asked him to return it? Do you think anyone would be able to?”

Milton stopped walking and looked down at the sidewalk. “I don’t know what else to do, Tor’jahd. I want to keep fighting, but the Aureus’Aevum that are coming through the portal are getting stronger and smarter. If Ahir and Trixie hadn’t shown up when they did, I might have died. I can’t keep up with my leg like this. I just don’t know what to do.”

Tor’jahd sighed. “There is one thing that I can do, but not here. Let’s return to your apartment.”

Milton looked at Tor’jahd and started to walk again. “What are you going to do Tor’jahd?”

“A gamble, but one that I think will be worth it.”

🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺

Ahir parried a slash from an arm that was striped orange and black and ended in the sharp claws of a tiger. The arm connected to the body that looked like it belonged to a shark, a curved fin resting upon its back. It bounced around on a pair of giant frog legs. It had a large spider head resting upon the shark’s body, it’s eight eyes stared emotionlessly at Ahir. Ahir ducked under another slash of the creature’s claws and slashed back at it, but it jumped away. “Were you as surprised as I was when Milton called?”

A fireball flew at Trixie and she raised up her shield. “I knew he would call. Well, I thought he would anyway.” The fireball reflected off her shield and flew back at a creature that was made from loose hanging chains in a humanoid shape. ” Okay, yes, I was surprised too.” The chains were connected to sea shells wherever a joint would be on a human body, and two green lights glowed where its eyes should be and a red light glowed from inside of its chest. The fireball crashed into the creature’s chest and it was knocked down into a pile of chains from the force of the blast. The chains rose back up and began to advance toward Trixie. “Um, I don’t suppose you want to switch fighting partners?”

Ahir spared Trixie a glance and saw the chain creature advancing on her. He looked back at the shark-bodied creature he was fighting against, and it was still sitting back, watching Ahir. “When I say, ‘go,’ we switch…Go!” Ahir turned and ran toward Trixie. That’s when the shark-bodied Aureus’Aevum launched itself at Ahir. It flew through the air, one of it’s arms pulled back, prepared to slash at Ahir’s unprotected back. It drew near to Ahir, and began to swing its arm forward, and Trixie ran past Ahir and met its claws with her shield.

The shark creature was sent flying away from them and Ahir swung his sword though the chain creature’s arm that was reaching for Trixie. The arm broke down into dust, and the dust was blown away by an unfelt breeze. The shark creature crashed into the side of a brick building and landed in a crumpled heap. Ahir turned and smiled at Trixie. “Nice timing on that switch, Trixie.”

Trixie returned the smile and then a shot was fired. Trixie and Ahir both turned to see a police officer with his gun pointed at the shark Aureus’Aevum. “What the heck are these things? Kevin, call for backup!”

Ahir and Trixie looked at each other, panic on their faces. Ahir swallowed and said, “Run, Trixie.”

Trixie looked back at Ahir. “Those police officers can’t handle these Aureus’aevum, if we don’t stay more people will be taken.”

“I know, and that’s why I’m staying.”

Trixie gasped. “But, Ahir, you’ll be caught!”

“If you don’t run, we’ll both be caught. Besides, I might be able to get away. I escaped from Lang’kahn, I should be able to escape from some police officers. Now go!”

Trixie looked at Ahir for a moment and kissed him on the cheek. Ahir raised his hand up to his face in surprise. Trixie smiled at Ahir. “You had better escape.” Trixie turned and ran into a nearby alleyway, and Sil’abo darted after her.

More gun shots sounded off behind Ahir, and he turned to see the shark creature jump at the police officers, who were firing shots at it wildly.

One of the police officers pulled the clip out of his pistol and put a fresh one in. “How the heck is this thing still up? I’ve emptied a clip into it already!”

Ahir sighed and charged at the creature attacking the police, but tripped and fell. He looked down at what had tripped him and saw a chain from the other Aureus’Aevum wrapped around his leg. He slashed through the chain, jumped up onto his feet and ran at the creature about to attack the police. Unfortunately, the shark-bodied creature reached the police officers first and slashed its claws through one of the police officers’ arms. The police officer’s gun dropped from his hand and he cried out in pain. The monster turned its attention onto the other police officer and pulled its arm back to slash him.

The police officer reached down to his belt and pulled out his can of pepper spray and squirted it into the creature’s eyes. The creature bellowed out in pain and brought both of its hands up to its eight spider eyes. Moments later Ahir brought his sword through the creature’s neck, and the creature broke down into dust. Ahir turned his attention to the two police officers, who were staring at him in disbelief. “Who the heck are you and how did you hurt that thing?”

Panic filled Ahir’s face, but it quickly turned back to confidence. “There isn’t time for that right now. Take care of your partner and leave the other creature to me, your weapons aren’t going to do you any good here.” Ahir didn’t stop to see if they followed his instructions or not, but turned and charged at the creature made from chains.

Electricity sparked between the links that made up the creature’s body and the chains jumped away from the sea shells and wrapped around Ahir. Ahir’s body twitched and spasmed, and his hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. He slowly brought his sword up, slicing through the chain links one at a time until he had sliced every strand of chain that had wrapped around him. Ahir dropped to one knee as the chain beast broke down to dust and floated away.

Ahir took a deep breath and struggled to his feet. He stumbled over to where the blue shimmering field hung in the air and he plunged the sword into it. The portal shrank down around Ahir’s sword and a flash of blue announced that the portal was closed. Ahir heard a gun cock behind him and an authoritative voice say, “Put the sword on the ground and turn around slowly.”

Ahir groaned and muttered under his breath, “Sorry, Trixie. I guess I won’t be able to keep my promise to you.” He bent over and placed the sword on the ground and slowly turned to face five police officers who had formed a semicircle around him, each with their pistol pointed at his chest. He looked behind him and saw the sixth police officer being treated by paramedics for the slash on his arm. Ahir weakly grinned at the police officers. “Anything I can do for you, officers?”

The officer standing in the middle of the semicircle replied, “You can start by telling us who you are and what just happened here.”

Ahir sighed. “I am Ahir Bohater, and what you just saw was me repelling invaders from another dimension.”

The police officer holstered his gun and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “Ahir Bohater, you say? We’ve been looking for you for a while in relation to the fire at your apartment complex, and you are our prime suspect in the death of Thaddeus Dillard, whose charred remains were found in the ashes of your apartment building. You are under arrest.”

🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺

Ahir sat with his wrists handcuffed to the table in front of him, and an investigator sat across from him massaging his head. He sat back in his chair and sighed. “That’s a very interesting story that you are telling me, Ahir, but I don’t believe a word of it. Right now you are facing some very serious jail time for murder and arson. Listen, we have witnesses that say they saw another man and a woman with you at the apartment fire, and my officers say that there was a woman with you in that parking lot today. Give me their names and I’ll get you a lighter sentence.”

“I didn’t start that apartment fire, Captain Ember did! I’ll admit that I killed him, but only because his body was taken over by Lang’kahn, and if I didn’t he was going to burn down the entire city!”

“Right, if these invaders from another dimension are going to take over the world, why didn’t you call the police? Why try to fight this invasion on your own?”

Ahir sighed. “Because the police are unable to do anything! Ask your officers that attacked that Aureus’Aevum at the parking lot today. They’ll tell you that their guns didn’t do anything to it.”

The investigator stood up, nodded his head, and started to pace around the questioning room. “What is it about your sword that makes it so much more effective against these creatures? Do only bladed weapons work against them?”

Ahir sighed. “I’ve already told you that the Gladio Protegat is the only weapon that has been formed that can kill, much less injure, an Aureus’Aevum, and only I can wield it. In anyone else’s hands the blade isn’t even sharp.”

A knock sounded at the door of the questioning room. A police officer poked his head in and walked over to the investigator and whispered into his ear, “The kid is telling the truth. We’ve tested out the sword and it isn’t sharp at all. We can’t even cut a sheet of paper with it.”

Ahir pounded his fists down onto the table out of frustration. The police officer and investigator turned and looked at Ahir with their guns pulled out of their holsters. Ahir fixed the investigator with a fiery gaze. “You have to let me go! The longer you keep me locked up in here the better chance that innocent people are going to be taken prisoner by the Aureus’Aevum! You captured the monkey that was at the parking lot today, if he spoke to you would you believe what I’m saying?”

The investigator laughed. “If your monkey spoke it would certainly help to make me more open to what you are saying.”

“Bring the monkey down here and I will convince him to speak with you.”

The investigator looked at Ahir suspiciously. “How do I know that you don’t just want us to bring your monkey down here so that he can help you escape?”
Ahir sighed. “Fine, take a banana to Bar’bou and tell him it’s from Ahir. If that doesn’t get him talking I don’t know what will.”

The investigator rolled his eyes and looked at the other police officer in the room. “Danis, go ahead and take Ahir’s monkey a banana.” The police officer nodded his head and walked out of the room chuckling. The investigator turned his attention back on Ahir. “I don’t know if you’re trying to go for an insanity plea, or are just crazy, but either way, I’ll see that justice is done.”

“I’m not crazy, I’m telling you the truth. Why won’t you believe me?”

The investigator sighed. “I can’t believe you. If what you are saying is true, then we are under attack from beings that I can’t protect anyone from, and our fate is in the hands of a street performer. I’d rather believe that you are an insane homicidal maniac than that.”

The door opened up and the police officer that had gone to give Bar’bou a banana walked in, his eyes wide with shock and his mouth hanging open. The investigator turned and looked at him. “Did the monkey talk?”

The police officer nodded his head. “He’s talking all right, but I have no idea what he’s saying.”

Ahir laughed, “That’s Bar’bou for you. Talks as if his parents read him the dictionary every night as a bedtime story. Will you believe me now?”

The investigator turned and looked at Ahir inquisitively. “So you aren’t insane. Everything you told us before was true then?”

Ahir smiled. “Yes, that’s what I’ve been telling you this whole time!”

The investigator nodded. “So you say that Captain Ember was using magic, and not super powers. Is magic something that my officers could learn?”

Ahir’s eyes opened wide in panic. “Your officers could learn to use magic, but you shouldn’t. Anyone who uses magic will be corrupted until eventually you are literally Lang’kahn’s puppet. That’s what happened to Captain Ember. Using magic wouldn’t help you against the Aureus’Aevum anyway, the only way you can hurt or kill them is with the Gladio Protegat, and only I can wield it.”

The investigator sat back and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes in silence. “It appears that you are not responsible for your old apartment building burning down, and you are not responsible for the death of Thaddeus Dillard, so I’m going to drop the charges against you.” Ahir smiled at the investigator. “Under one condition…” Ahir’s face turned more serious and he stared back at the investigator. “You have to inform us whenever one of these portals open up and Aureus’aevum are coming into our world. My men and I might not be able to fight against these things, but we can make sure that no one gets too close while you fight them.”

Ahir smiled at the investigator. “I will agree to that, sir, it sounds like an excellent plan to me. Do you have a phone number that I can reach you at the next time an Aureus’Aevum shows up?”

🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺

Trixie paced back and forth across the floor of her apartment, a worried look on her face. “Oh, he should have been here by now. He’s either dead or the police captured him. I’m certain it’s one of the two. Oh, Ahir, why didn’t you run away with me? Or at least let me stay with you.”

Sil’abo perked his head up and looked over at Trixie, his dog ears twitching. “Calm down already, Trixie! Worrying about Ahir isn’t going to get him back here any sooner. I’m certain that Ahir is alright, otherwise Bar’bou would have returned with the sword, for all the good it would have done us.”

Trixie looked at Sil’abo and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Ahir walked through the door. Trixie smiled and ran over to Ahir and gave him a big hug. “Ahir! You’re safe!”

Ahir blushed. “Yeah, and this reminds me: we need to talk about that kiss you gave me earlier.”

Trixie’s eyes opened up wide, she squeaked, let go of Ahir, and jumped away. She blushed and started to fiddle with her hands as if she didn’t know what to do with them and finally settled on clasping her hands behind her back. “Sorry about that, I’m not sure what came over me.”

Ahir smiled at Trixie. “Dont’ worry about it, I’m sure it’ll give us something to talk about later, but I need to tell you about what happened after you left today.”

“Something happened? Are you okay?”

Bar’bou jumped from Ahir’s shoulder to land on the counter. “Yes, neither of us sustained any serious trauma, though I must confess that I feared for Ahir’s welfare during his confrontation this afternoon, as well as when he was apprehended by the authorities.”

Trixie looked at Bar’bou with confusion. “Apprehended by the authorities? Wait, you were caught by the police? How did you escape? Did they follow you here?”

Ahir shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Trixie. Yes, I was caught by the police, but they let me go after I explained everything to them. It took a while for them to believe me, but once they did they decided to help us. We just call when a portal opens up and tell them where it is, and they will come and do crowd control so that no one else gets mixed up in our fights. We need to call Milton and tell him about it too.”

Trixie nodded her head. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. she paused and then looked at Ahir suspiciously. “Wait, when you say it took a while for them to believe you, you don’t mean that you used magic, do you?

Ahir smiled and shook his head. “No, it didn’t’ take something as drastic as that. I just had them give Bar’bou a banana.”

Bar’bou crossed his arms and glared at Ahir. “Only one such as yourself would decide to torture me after my incarceration.”

Ahir shrugged and smiled at Bar’bou. “I needed to get you to talk somehow and they wouldn’t let me see you, Bar’bou. It got us out of there and we have some help now. I just hope that Milton is as open to their help as I was.”

Trixie laughed and handed the phone to Ahir. “I don’t think Milton will be happy about this.”

Ahir took the phone and started searching through Trixie’s contacts. “I don’t think much of anything makes him happy.” Ahir finally found Milton’s number and called it.

Ahir lifted the phone up to his ear and listened to it ring. Milton said, “The agreement was that I would call you when a portal opened, Trixie. What do you want?”

Ahir cleared his throat. “Sorry to disappoint you, Milton, but I’m not Trixie.”

Milton growled over the phone. “The agreement definately said that I didn’t need to ever talk to you again, Ahir!”

Ahir frowned. “Hear me out, Milton, I wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t important. The police know about us.”

“What?”

“The police showed up today when I was fighting two Aureus’Aevum and I was caught afterward.”

Milton chuckled. “So the fire at your old apartment finally caught up with you, did it? Don’t drop the soap. Wait, I’m not your one phone call, am I?”

Ahir sighed. “Yes, they arrested me for that, but they let me go, in exchange for letting them know when and where portals are going to open. They’ll make sure that no else gets involved in the fights, so I thought maybe you would want to know so that you could use them too.”

Milton hesitated before answering. “They just want to make sure that no one else gets involved?”

“That’s all they want, Milton.”

“Okay, I’ll call them whenever I go out, but you had better not call me again, Ahir.” Milton ended the call.